Peeking behind the Law of Moses is a spiritually helpful practice. Some commandments in the Law of Moses are timeless principles. Others, however, are culturally specific examples. Failure to recognize between an example bound by time and space and a timeless principle leads to legalism.
Reading Galatians 3:1-11 and Matthew 5:13-20 together is quite helpful. We read that Jesus never objected to the Law of Moses, but to the misinterpretation, bad teaching, and flawed execution of it. That also seems to have been an objection of St. Paul the Apostle.
The other readings pertain to oppression. We read of violations of one timeless principle in the Law of Moses–do not exploit anyone. We read of religious figures and royal officials who were predators of the weak and vulnerable. Alas, this problem is as current in 2018 as it was in antiquity. So is the sin of certain religious figures supporting those predatory potentates and officials.
The timeless principles of the Law of Moses continue to condemn those who sin thusly. Indeed, apart from variations on themes, there is nothing new under the sun.
Do we condemn or condone such perfidy?
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
MARCH 21, 2018 COMMON ERA
THE FEAST OF JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH, CARL PHILIPP EMANUEL BACH, AND JOHANN CHRISTIAN BACH, COMPOSERS
THE FEAST OF SAINT NICHOLAS OF FLÜE AND HIS GRANDSON, SAINT CONRAD SCHEUBER, SWISS HERMITS
THE FEAST OF SAINT SERAPION OF THMUIS, ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOP
THE FEAST OF WILLIAM EDWARD HICKSON, ENGLISH MUSIC EDUCATOR AND SOCIAL REFORMER
Everlasting God, you give strength to the weak and power to the faint.
Make us agents of your healing and wholeness,
that your good may be made known to the ends your creation,
through Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord. Amen.
–Evangelical Lutheran Worship (2006), page 24
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The Assigned Readings:
Job 6:1-13
Psalm 102:12-28
Mark 3:7-12
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The days of my life are like a lengthening shadow:
though I am withering away like grass
You remain, LORD, for ever:
succeeding generations will be reminded of you.
–Psalm 102:12-13, The Psalms Introduced and Newly Translated for Today’s Readers, Harry Mowvley (1989)
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Today we have readings about two men–one fictional, the other real–who suffered, but not for any sin they had committed.
The titular character of the Book of Job was righteous. He suffered because God permitted it as a test of loyalty. Job’s alleged friends defended their orthodoxy, which held that Job must be suffering for a sin or sins he had committed, for God, being just, would never let an innocent person suffer. They blamed a victim and even gloated as he suffered. After Eliphaz the Temanite stated that a righteous person’s merit can shield him or her from harm, Job said:
…What strength have I, that I should endure?
How long have I to live, that I should be patient?
–6:11, TANAKH: The Holy Scriptures (1985)
Jesus had made deadly enemies as early as Mark 3:6. (His offense had been to heal on the Sabbath.) Throngs of people seeking healing pursued him, pressed upon him, and caused him great physical stress. At least Jesus had Apostles to prepare a getaway boat. But he still died at the hands of powerful political enemies. Fortunately, there was also the Resurrection.
A few weeks ago I heard a new (to me, anyway) take on the statement that God will never give us more to bear than we can handle. An individualistic understanding of that statement is erroneous, for we exist in spiritual community. Thus God will not impose a burden too heavy for the community to bear. This is about “we,” not “me.” May we support each other and not be like Job’s alleged friends. And there is more: we have the merits of Christ. That merit is sufficient, although it has not protected martyrs from harm. The message I take away from that fact is that safety is not necessarily part of God’s promise to the faithful. God will, however, be present with them. How is that for burden-sharing community?
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
DECEMBER 2, 2014 COMMON ERA
THE THIRD DAY OF ADVENT, YEAR B
THE FEAST OF SAINT BRIOC, ROMAN CATHOLIC ABBOT; AND SAINT TUDWAL, ROMAN CATHOLIC ABBOT AND BISHOP
THE FEAST OF CHANNING MOORE WILLIAMS, EPISCOPAL BISHOP IN CHINA AND JAPAN
THE FEAST OF JOHN BROWN, ABOLITIONIST
THE FEAST OF SAINT OSMUND OF SALISBURY, ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOP
One of the recurring biblical themes is the coexistence of divine mercy and judgment. It is evident in 2 Kings, where King Josiah deferred yet did not cancel out via national holiness (however fleeting) the consequences of successive generations of national depravity and disregard for holiness. The Hollywood tacked-on happy ending, in the style of The Magnificent Ambersons (1942) after the studio took the film away from Orson Welles, would have been for forgiveness to wipe away everything. Yet judgment came–just later than scheduled previously.
I would like to be a Universalist–a Christian Universalist, to be precise. Yet that would be a false choice. No matter how much grace exists in Jesus, the reality of the Incarnation does demand a response to the question,
Who do we say Jesus is?
(Thanks to Professor Phillip Cary, in his Teaching Company course on the History of Christian Theology for making the point that the Synoptic Gospels pose that question to audiences.) And, as C. H. Dodd, while explaining Realized Eschatology in The Founder of Christianity, wrote of Jesus in that book:
In his words and actions he made men aware of [the kingdom of God] and challenged them to respond. It was “good news” in the sense that it meant opportunity for a new start and an unprecedented enrichment of experience. But when a person (or society) has been presented with such a challenge and declines it, he is not just where he was before. His position is the worse for the encounter….The coming of the kingdom meant the open opportunity of enhancement of life; it also meant the heightening of moral responsibility.
–1970 Macmillan paperback edition, page 58
So, regardless of the number of challenges and severity thereof we might face due to our fidelity to God, may we find encouragement to continue to follow Christ, our Lord and Savior, who suffered to the point of death and overcame that obstacle.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
OCTOBER 10, 2013 COMMON ERA
THE FEAST OF SAINT JOHN LEONARDI, FOUNDER OF THE CLERKS REGULAR OF THE MOTHER OF GOD; AND SAINT JOSEPH CALASANCTIUS, FOUNDER OF THE CLERKS REGULAR OF RELIGIOUS SCHOOLS
Liturgical time matters, for it sacramentalizes days, hours, and minutes, adding up to seasons on the church calendar. Among the frequently overlooked seasons is the Season after Epiphany, the first part of Ordinary Time. The Feast of the Epiphany always falls on January 6 in my tradition. And Ash Wednesday always falls forty days (excluding Sundays) before Easter Sunday. The Season after Epiphany falls between The Feast of the Epiphany and Ash Wednesday. In 2013 the season will span January 7-February 12.
This season ought to be a holy time, one in which to be especially mindful of the imperative to take the good news of Jesus of Nazareth to others by a variety of means, including words when necessary. Words are meaningless when our actions belie them, after all. Among the themes of this season is that the Gospel is for all people, not just those we define as insiders. No, the message is also for our “Gentiles,” those whom we define as outsiders. So, with that thought in mind, I encourage you, O reader, to exclude nobody. Do not define yourself as an insider to the detriment of others. If you follow this advice, you will have a proper Epiphany spirit.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
NOVEMBER 9, 2012 COMMON ERA
THE FEAST OF MARTIN CHEMNITZ, GERMAN LUTHERAN THEOLOGIAN
THE FEAST OF BARTON STONE, COFOUNDER OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH (DISCIPLES OF CHRIST)
Job needed friends. He got Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite instead. Alas for Job! And he lamented the lack of support. I would prefer strangulation too; at least it would get me away from those alleged friends.
Counterpoints occur in John. We being with John the Baptist, whose movement had fewer followers than that of Jesus. John continued to point toward our Lord. Then, in Chapter 4, Jesus commenced the longest recorded conversation in the canonical Gospels. This conversation was with not only a woman–unheard of in many circles–but with a Samaritan woman–even more scandalous. Many interpreters–out of mysogyny or tradition or both–have assumed that she had a dubious sexual reputation, but there is no textual proof for that. She could, for example have been in a levirate marriage–legal under the Law of Moses. Jesus helped the woman at the well. I can only imagine what harm Eliphaz, Bildad, or Zophar would have wrought.
Until the next segment of our journey….
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
APRIL 15, 2012 COMMON ERA
THE SECOND SUNDAY OF EASTER, YEAR B
THE FEASTS OF SAINT OLGA OF KIEV, REGENT OF KIEVAN RUSSIA; ADALBERT OF MAGDEBURG, ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOP; ADALBERT OF PRAGUE, ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOP AND MARTYR; AND BENEDICT AND GAUDENTIUS OF POMERANIA, ROMAN CATHOLIC MARTYRS
THE FEAST OF SAINT DAMIEN DE VEUSTER, A.K.A. DAMIEN OF MOLOKAI, ROMAN CATHOLIC PRIEST
THE FEAST OF SAINT EGBERT OF LINDISFARNE, ROMAN CATHOLIC MONK AND SAINT ADALBERT OF EGMONT, ROMAN CATHOLIC MISSIONARY
THE FEAST OF SAINT MELLITUS, ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY
In the year that King Uzziah died, I beheld my Lord seated on a high and lofty throne; and the skirts of His robe filled the Temple. Seraphs stood in attendance on Him. Each of them had six wings: with two he covered his face, with two he covered his legs, and with two he would fly.
And one would call to the other,
Holy, holy, holy!
The LORD of Hosts!
His presence fills all the earth!
The doorposts would shake at the sound of the one who called, and the House kept filling with smoke. I cried,
Woe is me; I am lost!
For I am a man of unclean lips
And I live among a people
Of unclean lips;
Yet my own eyes have beheld
The King LORD of Hosts.
Then one of the seraphs flew over to me with a live coal, which he had taken from the altar with a pair of tongs. He touched it to my lips and declared,
Now that this has touched your lips,
Your guilt shall depart
And your sin be purged away.
Then I heard the voice of my Lord saying,
Whom shall I send? Who will go for us?
And I said,
Here am I; send me.
And He said,
Go, say to that people:
“Hear, indeed, but do not understand;
See, indeed, but do not grasp.”
Dull that people’s mind,
Stop its ears,
And seal its eyes–
Lest, seeing with its eyes
And hearing with its ears,
It also grasp with its mind,
And repent and save itself.
I asked,
How long, my Lord?
And He replied:
Till towns lie waste without inhabitants
And houses without people,
And the ground lies waste and desolate–
For the LORD will banish the population–
And deserted sites are many
In the midst of the land.
But while a tenth part yet remains in it, it shall repent. It shall be ravaged like the terebinth and the oak, of which stumps are left even when they are felled; its stump shall be a holy seed.
Psalm 138 (Revised English Bible):
I shall give praise to you, LORD, with my whole heart;
in the presence of the gods I shall sing psalms to you.
I shall bow down towards your holy temple;
for your love and faithfulness I shall praise your name,
for you have exalted your promise above the heavens.
When I called, you answered me
and made me bold and strong.
Let all the kings of the earth praise you, LORD,
when they hear the words you have spoken;
let them sing of the LORD’s ways,
for great is the glory of the LORD.
The LORD is exalted, yet he cares for the lowly
and from afar he takes note of the proud.
Though I am compassed about by trouble,
you preserve my life,
putting forth your power against the rage of my enemies,
and with your right hand you save me.
The LORD will accomplish his purpose for me.
Your love endures for ever, LORD;
do not abandon what you have made.
1 Corinthians 15:1-11 (The Jerusalem Bible):
Brothers, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, the gospel that you received and in which you are firmly established; because the gospel will save you only if you keep believing exactly what I preached to you–believing anything else will not lead to anything.
Well then, in the first place, I taught you what I had been taught myself, namely that Christ died for our sins, in accordance with the scriptures; that he was buried; and that he was raised to life on the third day, in accordance with the scriptures; that he appeared first to Cephas and secondly to the Twelve. Next he appeared to more than five thousand of the brothers at the same time, most of whom are still alive, though some have died; then he appeared to James, and then to all the apostles; and last of all he appeared to me too; it was as though I was born when no one expected it.
I am the least of the apostles; in fact, since I persecuted the Church of God, I hardly deserve the name apostle; but by God’s grace that is what I am, and the grace that he gave me has not been fruitless. On the contrary, I, or rather the grace of God that is with me, have worked harder than any of the others; but what matters is that I preach what they preach, and this is what you all believed.
Luke 5:1-11 (The Jerusalem Bible):
Now he was standing one day by the Lake of Gennesaret, with the crowd pressing round him listening to the word of God, when he caught sight of two boats close to the bank. The fishermen had gone out of them and were washing their nets. He got into one of the boats–it was Simon’s–and asked him to put out a little from the shore. Then he sat down and taught the crowds from the boat.
When he had finished speaking he said to Simon,
Put out into deep water and pay out your nets for a catch.
Simon replied,
Master, we worked hard all night long and caught nothing, but if you say so, I will pay out the nets.
And when they had done this they netted such a huge number of fish that their nets began to tear, so they signalled to their companions in the other boat to come and help them; when these came, they filled the two boats to sinking point.
When Simon Peter saw this he fell at the knees of Jesus saying,
Leave me, Lord; I am a sinful man.
For he and all his companions were completely overcome by the catch they had made; so also were James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were Simon’s partners; But Jesus said to Simon,
Do not be afraid; from now on it is men you will catch.
Then, bringing their boats back to land, they left everything and followed him.
The Collect:
Set us free, O God, from the bondage of our sins, and give us the liberty of that abundant life which you have made known to us in your Son our Savior Jesus Christ; who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
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\My most basic prayer for anyone–including myself–is that God’s best for that person will be that person’s reality. This petition speaks of an awareness that God has a set of purposes for each person and that one’s set is not another’s. There are certain broad generalizations which apply across the board, of course. Glorifying and enjoying God forever is one of them. Loving one’s neighbors is another. But circumstances and grace dictate the specifics.
We human beings have demonstrated the unfortunate tendency to work toward keeping people different from us and therefore allegedly inferior to us “in their place.” Thus Antebellum slaves in the Southern U.S. were supposed, by law in several states, to be illiterate. And, after emancipation, powerful white people did not always provide schools for African Americans. The schools which did exist were woefully inferior in many places. Thus a large proportion of the population lacked equality of opportunity. The society suffered, for keeping another “in his place” requires someone to make sure he stays there. That monitor is therefore not far removed from his victim. Thus perpetrators victimize themselves.
But what is God’s designated place for each of us? Isaiah became a prophet. Simon Peter, James, and John became great Apostles. And so did Paul. Human sinfulness was no obstacle to grace. What is God’s designated place for you? If you, O reader, are fortunate, you are there already. If not, may you get there. Getting there requires human assistance, so may you help others arrive at God’s destination and may others help you in your sacred vocation(s).
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
APRIL 13, 2012 COMMON ERA
THE FEAST OF SAINT HERMENEGILD, VISIGOTHIC PRINCE AND ROMAN CATHOLIC MARTYR
THE FEAST OF SAINT HUGH OF ROUEN, ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOP, ABBOT, AND MONK
THE FEAST OF SAINT MARTIN I, BISHOP OF ROME
THE FEAST OF MIKAEL AGRICOLA, FINNISH LUTHERAN BISHOP OF TALLINN
Holy Women, Holy Men: Celebrating the Saints (2010), of The Episcopal Church, contains an adapted two-years weekday lectionary for the Epiphany and Ordinary Time seasons from the Anglican Church of Canada. I invite you to follow it with me.
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Once again I have changed translations, something I do from time to time. It is good to read biblical texts, especially ones with which one is familiar in one version, in a different one. The act of translating a biblical text out of its original language is also one of interpreting it, for there are shades of meaning in ancient Hebrew and Greek. Which shade of meaning does one emphasize? So a very helpful way of reading the texts, which I like to type out, is to have at least one other translation available and to compare and contrast the renderings.
The versions I use for this week are:
TANAKH: The Holy Scriptures (1985), of the Jewish Publication Society,
and
The New Testament in Modern English, Revised Edition (1972), by J. B. Phillips.
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1 Kings 8:1-13 (TANAKH: The Holy Scriptures):
Then Solomon convoked the elders of Israel–all the heads of the tribes and the ancestral chieftains of the Israelites–before King Solomon in Jerusalem, to bring up the Ark of the Covenant of the LORD from the City of David, that is, Zion.
All the men of Israel gathered before King Solomon at the Feast, in the month of Ethanim–that is, the seventh month. When all the elders of Israel had come, the priests lifted the Ark and carried up the Ark of the LORD. Then the priests and the Levites brought the Tent of Meeting and all the holy vessels that were in the Tent. Meanwhile, King Solomon and and the whole community of Israel, who were assembled with him before the Ark, were sacrificing sheep and oxen in such abundance that they could not be numbered or counted.
The priests brought the Ark of the LORD’s Covenant to its place underneath the wings of the cherubim, in the Shrine of the House, in the Holy of Holies; for the cherubim had their wings spread out over the place of the Ark, so that the Cherubim shielded the Ark and its poles from above. The poles projected so that the ends of the poles were visible in the sanctuary in front of the Shrine, bu they could not be seen outside; and there they remain to this day. There was nothing inside the Ark but the two tablets of stone which Moses placed there at Horeb, when the LORD made [a covenant] with the Israelites after the departure from the land of Egypt.
When the priests came out of the sanctuary–for the cloud had filled the House of the LORD and the priests were not able to remain and perform the service because of the cloud, for the Presence of the LORD filled the House of the LORD–then Solomon declared:
The LORD has chosen
To abide in a thick cloud:
I have now built for You
A stately House,
A place where You
May dwell forever.
Psalm 132:6-10 (1979 Book of Common Prayer):
6 “The ark!” We heard it was in Ephratah;
we found it in the fields of Jearim.
7 Let us go to God’s dwelling place;
let us fall upon our knees before his footstool.”
8 Arise, O LORD, into your resting-place,
you and the ark of your strength.
9 Let your priests be clothed with righteousness;
let your faithful people sing with joy.
10 For your servant David’s sake,
do not turn away the face of your Anointed.
Mark 6:53-56 (J. B. Phillips, 1972):
And when they had crossed over to the other side of the lake they landed at Gennesaret and tied up there. As soon as they came ashore, the people recognised Jesus and rushed all over the countryside and began to carry the sick around on their beds to wherever he was. Wherever he went, in villages or towns or hamlets, they laid down their sick right in the marketplaces and begged him that they might “just touch the edge of this cloak”. And all those who touched him were healed.
Set us free, O God, from the bondage of our sins, and give us the liberty of that abundant life which you have made known to us in your Son our Savior Jesus Christ; who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
From June 1982 to June 1985 my father served as pastor of the Hopewell United Methodist Church, outside Baxley, Georgia, on Red Oak Road, in Appling County. I was in the Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth Grades at the time. Being young and generally well-trained, I deferred to my elders much of the time, even when I knew they were factually mistaken. Some of my Sunday School teachers were poorly informed, yet I stayed quiet when I heard them make a basic mistake, such as what the “ninth hour” was in relation to Christ’s crucifixion. One Sunday School teacher did not know that this was 3:00 P.M., for example. And at least one Sunday School teacher misinterpreted “to this day” references in the Bible to apply to the early 1980s.
1 Kings 8:8 uses “to this day” to refer to the position of the Ark of the Covenant’s position (and the position of its poles) in the Holy of Holies in Solomon’s Temple. Yet Solomon’s Temple has not stood since 587/586 B.C.E., and the Ark of the Covenant had ceased to be at the Temple before then. So “to this day” helps one date the writing of that verse. The statement was accurate when the author wrote that line. As a history buff, I find such markers quite helpful.
The reading from 1 Kings 8 is part of the description of Solomon’s dedication of the First Temple. The lesson conveys a sense of great mystery and reverence, down to the cloud, an indication of the divine presence, filling the House of the LORD. I do not know what actually happened, for the prose poet in me suspects that words were inadequate to describe well what really occurred. But it was, simply put, mystical. That satisfies me.
Yet God seems both close and distant in 1 Kings 8. “God is here, so we cannot perform our service,” the priests seemed to have said to themselves in Hebrew. As a Christian, I believe in approaching God with reverence, but consider God approachable nonetheless. God has come to us as a baby who grew up and became a craftsman who worked with stone and wood. This craftsman also healed many people (as in the reading from Mark), uttered many wise sayings and great moral truths, suffered, died, rose from the dead, and atoned for human sins.
By the act of the Incarnation of the Second Person of the Trinity as Jesus of Nazareth, God approached us, so I feel free to approach God–reverently, of course, but quite personally. In fact, my preferred way of addressing God is “You.” I mean the second person singular and informal pronoun; if I were speaking in French, I would call God Tu, a practice consistent with every French translation of the Bible I have seen.
God has approached us. That is true to this day, Monday, June, 20, 2011, when I write these words, and afterward. A reciprocal response is appropriate and respectful. That is also true to this day.
Holy Women, Holy Men: Celebrating the Saints (2010), of The Episcopal Church, contains an adapted two-years weekday lectionary for the Epiphany and Ordinary Time seasons from the Anglican Church of Canada. I invite you to follow it with me.
These are the records of the skies and the earth when they were created: In the sky that YHWH made earth and skies–when all produce of the field had not yet been in the earth, and all vegetation of the field had not yet grown, for YHWH God had not rained on the earth, and there had been no human to work the ground, and a river had come up from the earth and watered the whole face of the ground–
YHWH God fashioned a human, dust from the ground, and blew into his nostrils the breath of life, and the human became a living being.
And YHWH God planted a garden in Eden at the east, and He set the human whom He had fashioned there. And YHWH God caused every tree that was pleasant to the sight and good for eating to grow from the ground, and the tree of life within the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and bad.
…
And YHWH God took the human and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and to watch over it. And YHWH God commanded the human, saying,
You may eat from every tree of the garden. But from the tree of knowledge of good and bad: you shall not eat from it, because in the day you eat from it: you’ll die!
Psalm 104:25, 28-31 (1979 Book of Common Prayer):
25 O LORD, how manifold are your works!
in wisdom you have made them all;
the earth is full of your creatures.
28 All of them look to you
to give them their food in due season.
29 You give it to them; they gather it;
you open your hand, and they are filled with good things.
30 You hide your face, and they are terrified;
you take away their breath,
and they die and return to their dust.
31 You send forth your Spirit, and they are created;
and so you renew the face of the earth.
Mark 7:14-23 (J. B. Phillips, 1972):
Then he called the crowd close to him again, and spoke to them,
Listen to me now, all of you, and understand this. There is nothing outside a man which can enter into him and make him “common”. It is the things which come out of a man that make him “common!
Later, when he had gone indoors away from the crowd, his disciples asked him about this parable.
He said,
Oh, are you as dull as they are? Can’t you see that anything that goes into a man from outside cannot make him ‘common’ or unclean? You see, it doesn’t go into his heart, but into his stomach, and passes out of the body altogether, so that all food is clean enough. But,
he went on,
whatever comes out of a man, that is what makes a man ‘common’ or unclean. For it is from inside, from men’s hearts and minds, that evil thoughts arise–lust, theft, murder, adultery, greed, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, arrogance, and folly! All these evil things come from inside a man and make him unclean!
Set us free, O God, from the bondage of our sins, and give us the liberty of that abundant life which you have made known to us in your Son our Savior Jesus Christ; who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
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One of the advantages to reading Biblical passages, especially those familiar to one, in translations (not just one version) is finding shades of meaning emphasized in various ways. The J. B. Phillips New Testament in Modern English, the second edition of which I have quoted, is wonderful in that it fulfills this function well.
Compare the Phillips translation to other versions. Phillips says “make a man ‘common.'” More traditional translations say “defile him.” What is it about being “common” that is allegedly defiling? Ritual uncleanliness–in this case, tied to the washing of one’s hands before eating–was part of a purity code. To be pure ritually was to be separate from–excuse the double entendre–the great unwashed. I think of a parable Jesus told elsewhere. A Pharisee and a tax collector (a tax thief and a Roman collaborator) were praying in the same space. The Pharisee thanked God that he was not like the tax collector and listed a catalog of his good works. But the tax collector was humble before God, and he went away justified.
I have DVDs (available from the Learning Company) of Luke Timothy Johnson teaching about the Gospels. Professor Johnson states that one of the themes in Mark is that the seeming insiders really are not insiders. This analysis holds up well, based on my reading of that canonical Gospel. What is more seemingly “inside” than the religious establishment? Many of these people liked to cling to notions of ritual purity. But, as Jesus tells us, that misses the point. What is inside makes us pure or impure; what we consume does not.
The first part of the second creation myth from Genesis tells us that God breathed life into Adam. I leave the details of life and evolution to scientists, and the specifics of theology to theologians. Each is a different way of knowing, and both are valuable. The myth does contain truths, and among them is this one: we are all precious in the eyes of God. We have that in common.
Imagined purity functions to define the allegedly pure as such and the different others as impure. It reinforces class systems and religious prejudices. Yet God, as the prophet Samuel said, does not look at us as we look at each other; God looks at who and what we really are. Therein lies our purity or lack thereof.
Our challenge today is to examine ourselves and check ourselves for any indication of a fixation on ritual purity, regardless of the form it takes. Are we viewing others as God perceives them, or in a way conducive to reinforcing our egos?
